Ted Reed
The effort included ensuring that every employee focuses on the same metric, "departure to zero," or departure at the exact scheduled time. In the past, airport agents might have focused on hitting that target, while others employees might have focused on meeting five- or 10-minute variances.
For many airline workers, who are not directly involved in achieving financial goals, on-time performance is the truest measure of corporate performance. In some cases, US Airways also increased published flight times so that schedules could be met, especially for flights utilizing crowded Northeast airspace. Isom said the changes were part of a comprehensive schedule realignment that also included reducing the size of some banks of flights, and increasing the amount of time allocated for passengers to make connections. At Philadelphia International Airport, long a trouble spot, US Airways has boosted its on-time performance by adding employees, buying ground equipment, upgrading facilities and establishing a regional headquarters as part of an effort to improve a long-chilly relationship with airport administrators. "We've had a real change in terms of the way the airline and city get along," Isom said. Changes have also been made at meetings where managers review schedule integrity in minute detail. Isom said the airline has made its weekly meetings more comprehensive, and has combined daily meetings that previously considered east and west operations separately. "It has absolutely had an impact," he said. "It's one system." The momentum continued into April, Isom said, where internal numbers show an A14 arrival rate of 81.3%, which will likely place the carrier among the top three performers on the DOT list. During March, according to the DOT, the airport with the best on-time departure performance was Salt Lake City, a hub for Delta(DAL Quote - Cramer on DAL - Stock Picks). The airport with the worst on-time departure performance was Newark, a hub for Continental(CAL Quote - Cramer on CAL - Stock Picks).
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